Acme Fresh Market hopes to break ground in the spring for its newest store in 20 years and be open for business by next fall.
The grocery store received the final go-ahead from the city of Green recently.
“We’re excited that they’re coming,” said Green Mayor Dick Norton.
The approval process took a little longer than originally hoped, Norton said, but now that the project is ready to move forward, Norton said it will be “an extremely handsome store.”
The store will front Massillon Road at Graybill Road and will be part of the Heritage Crossings of Green development.
The store will be a “showcase” for Acme and includes a silo in its design, in homage to the family farmland the store is being built on, said Norton.
Acme officials traveled around the country for ideas to “debut for the city of Green and Acme 21 in 2013,” said Acme Executive Vice President Jim Trout.
The store will cover 75,000 square feet, which “gives us the amount of square footage where we can present the product a little differently than we have in some of our latest remodels,” Trout said. “This store will look different. ... It will absolutely have some new bells and whistles that will really excite the customers.”
What the store will have is the largest produce department of any of the other 16 Acme stores, Trout said.
“People are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In this store, we will have our largest assortment of fresh produce. That will trickle down to the other stores as well,” he said.
The store will also have the expected departments such as fresh seafood, prepared foods and deli, a Good Day Cafe, a bakery, a natural and organic products section and pharmacy.
In the adult beverage department, there will be a growler station, which is in several of the stores. It will have an assortment of fresh draft micro and imported beer.
The project is right on track, said Joe Albrecht, vice president of Albrecht Inc., the developer of the store and two other planned retail buildings in the project.
Albrecht said the company will break ground in the spring, though there may be some work by CAM Inc. of Green on retention ponds that will be incorporated into the landscaping of the project.
Trout said if the weather holds up, it would be an asset to the project if foundations could be poured before winter.
The design builders for the Acme project are Bob White and Dan Cozad with Krumroy-Cozad Construction Corp. of Akron.
Albrecht said the real estate development arm Albrecht Inc. is not yet ready to announce other tenants for the project, but they will be complementary to the Acme.
Norton said the city has coined and marketed the areas as “Main Street in Green. We’re trying to attract those A players to the market.”
Acme isn’t the only grocer building or expanding in Green. Giant Eagle, also on Massillon Road, is in the midst of its expansion there. The store is growing by 40 percent to about 84,000 square feet.
A company spokesperson said the hope is for completion by the fall of 2013.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blinfisher and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty.